Tuesday, October 05, 2004

AWOL From The Senate

Last month, I was watching a news clip of Mr. Kerry windsurfing and reflected upon how all the news clips depicted him performing some activity or another of the idle rich. What does a senator do for a living? He votes and goes to meetings. One could peruse the Constitution to delve into the details, but the general idea is voting and attending meetings.

A slacker could sleep through meetings and let his staff nudge him at the right times to say Aye or Nay. In fact, Ronald Reagan was criticized for dozing during afternoon meetings. At least he showed up.

Tonight I'm watching the Vice President debates. Mr. Cheney, who as president of the Senate works in the same room with Mr. Edwards, said this was the first time they'd met.

This is some gravy job where you get six years minimum of slacking off, and you have to run for Vice President for anybody to point out that you blow off even those minimal duties of voting and attending meetings. Why would Mr. Edwards want to leave that gig?

I think it has to do with the duties of the Vice President. Since the Vice President only casts tie-breaking votes in the Senate, he doesn't have to vote as often. That must make the job a lot easier.

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